


Stained Glass

by Latiwings



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Blood, M/M, Non-descriptive amputation, Off-screen death, also the fic itself is actually incredibly soff, basically most of it is non-descriptive, incredibly mild gore/body horror, mild description of impaling, non-descriptive needle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23790307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Latiwings/pseuds/Latiwings
Summary: There was a rumour about a powerful Burnish, and a companion that he breathed back to life.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 20
Kudos: 96





	Stained Glass

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crimsilentlce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsilentlce/gifts).



> **Dedication :**  
>  To Crim first and foremost, for gracing my eyes with their amazing papercraft work. I hope you like the gift! :>
> 
> Then a big thanks to my beta reader [Aura](https://archiveofourown.org/users/auragemi) for giving this a readover and making sure nothing goes wrong. <3 
> 
> Lastly, to the Settlement. I love you all <3
> 
> **Songs to go along with :**  
> [Your Love - Glass Animals](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts--MxmAFkQ)  
> [Xephyr - Tatsh](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS7StcykQF4)  
> [Church - Fall Out Boy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3vbvF8bQfI)

_“I am coming_  
_for all the monsters that ever touched him,_  
_I am coming_  
_for all the ones who twisted his stars into shadows,_  
_They turned him into a nightmare,_  
_so I’m going to be theirs..._  
_and they’ll never wake up”_

_\- Anonymous_

♰

“You’re painfully reckless.”

Galo tilted his head, eyes wide. “You think so?”

Lio scowled. His hands were covered in blood, some stale and drying, some fresh and bright, _bright_ red. He placed a hand on Galo’s chest menacingly, a scarlet stamp over the heart.

“I know so,” he gritted out. Then, in a softer voice, “Don’t do that again. You can’t leave me.”

Galo let out a soft chuckle. His eyes shone intensely in the moonlight, but it was filled with affection. “You’ve got me, spark.”

“I better,” Lio huffed. His other hand pulled back, needle between fingers glinting red.

It was going to take all night to sew Galo back together.

♰

_The Burnish weren’t human_ , people whispered.

Their fire could destroy.

Their fire could heal.

Their fire was everything and _anything_ but it couldn’t bring someone back from the dead because -

_( Lio gasped, pulling himself away from Galo’s lips. Fire sparked and burned, cool flesh turning warm. One of Galo’s fingers twitched, curling around Lio’s firmly, life pumping through veins once more )_

Burnish were just _humans_ , in the end.

_(Galo opened his eyes. His heart was beating, but he wasn’t breathing)_

Lio was Burnish, but he didn’t know if he was _human_ anymore.

♰

“Galo! Galo!”

“Ooof!”

The children clambered over Galo, bringing the man to the ground. A girl was pulling his hair for attention and the youngest boy was poking Galo’s nose. Lio pulled back the hood of his cloak, hiding a smile.

“Lio!” Galo whined. One child pulled his ear and giggled. “Save me!”

“The great Galo Fotia, taken down by mere children?”

“Children are powerful beings,” Galo said, very seriously. Giggles and squeals erupted around him.

Lio clapped his hands. “Kids, if you don’t let him go,” he took out a pouch from his satchel, “How would you find out what he brought for you all, back from our travels?”

Galo let out another pained yelp when the kids scrambled for Lio, trampling all over him.

♰

All those years ago, Lio met Galo in a cell.

He blinked slowly, _owlishly_ , at the man in front of him. Matted blue hair, cuffs around hands. There was a growing bruise around his midsection like someone had punched him hard, just before he got arrested.

“Your fire didn’t heal you?”

The man looked up, surprised. “I’m not Burnish.”

And now Lio was also surprised, jerking his own chains. “Then why did they arrest you?”

The man let out a bitter laugh.

“Ah,” he said, “I knew too much.”

♰

Before the altar of the abandoned church, Lio prayed.

His mother once told him that if he was sincere enough, _tried hard enough_ , then perhaps God would take his mutation away from him, allowing him a normal life.

_bUrnBurnbuRN_

Lio heard voices, but it wasn’t God.

♰

The cell door blasted open, because nothing that simple would hold Lio Fotia. He might be young, he might be naive, he might be reckless, but

he was free.

They ran for it, dodging ice bullets after ice bullets. Screams and yells and Lio shot back, meeting ice with fire.

_(“They want me dead,” Galo had said, voice hollow and resigned, “Kray wanted me dead.”_

_He looked at Lio with a smile. “Wouldn’t it be the perfect irony to die in a fire by a Burnish, just like my parents?”)_

Lio was not going to stand by that. He would not let another man’s death be pinned on a Burnish, _on him_ , not when he could do something about it. They would escape from this and they would be safe.

There would be no blood on Lio’s hands.

♰

“They are holding a feast for us tonight.”

Lio’s eyes fluttered open. He took the hand offered, allowing Galo to pull him up from his knees.

“That’s sweet of them,” he said.

Galo grinned happily. “It really is! I’m glad this place is doing alright.”

A small community just far enough from civilization, surrounded by forest, hidden from prying eyes. What started out as one Burnish saved became two, and then there were children, then elderly people.

This place was a town before nature reclaimed it after the Great Blaze. Now, rescued Burnish lived among the plants and the rocks, a second chance.

Lio put on his cloak, held it together with a pin in the shape of a cross. He glanced at his partner, noting the slight tension in the crease of his eyes. “You remembered something.”

“...yeah.” It was impossible to hide from Lio, who knew his body inside out. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Mhmm.”

Lio laced his fingers with Galo’s, attending the celebration hand in hand. A boar was being roasted by Burnish flames, freshly hunted for this occasion.

Above them the stars twinkled kindly, enjoying the cheer.

♰

Galo took a bullet for him.

“Why?” Lio choked out. Galo’s head was on his lap. An icicle speared through his stomach, red dripping down crystalline.

Around them, their pursuers were dead.

Galo's laugh was wet, blood burbling at the back of his throat. "...between the two of us… you’d have a better chance… at life."

Lio curled in. He would not cry, because he was furious. "They'll never stop hunting me," he hissed, "I'm a Burnish."

"... Ah," Galo blinked, looking at Lio like he just realized something, "Isn't Burnish… just human?"

♰

When dawn came, they were supposed to leave.

“Lio! Galo!”

“Marcus,” Galo greeted easily. The man in front of him looked out of breath. His left leg - a makeshift, crude, wooden support - groaned at the run. “What’s up?”

“Outsiders,” Marcus wheezed. “ _Please_.”

“Go rest Marcus,” Lio’s eyes gleamed. “We’ll deal with it.”

There was a story about a forest, somewhere in the deserts. Unassuming, not very big, not very special, except -

People who went in didn’t come back out.

♰

Lio took Galo with him.

He pulled, and pulled, and _pulled_.

Galo grew colder, and colder, and _colder_.

♰

“Hey fellas.”

The men looked confused. They always did.

Galo twirled his Matoi. It was warm in his grip, far warmer than he would ever be. “Didn’t you read the warning like, miles back? The one that said ‘Please for goddamn sake, do not enter?’”

They pointed guns at him, which was incredibly uncool. Galo didn’t like guns. They caused so much damage, and Lio always complained about it.

Why did they have to use such destructive weapons on things they fear?

“Well,” Galo grinned, “You asked for it.”

♰

This stupid man.

Lio’s body gave in after three days of dragging. He dropped to his knees in some abandoned building, the roof long gone. The moon glowed so happily.

Lio wanted to scream.

He could just ditch the body. He didn’t know anything about Galo; not his background, not why Kray Foresight, the new Governor of Promepolis, wanted him dead. Not anything, except -

_( Galo pushed him aside. The sound of ice sliding through flesh would haunt Lio for life)_

BrinGHimBaCkBriNgHimBAcK **BRINgHiMBaCk**

They had only met each other for a week. Then Galo went and sacrificed himself, for Lio.

Lio would never forgive him.

Fire burned in his chest, urging him with voices that sounded like choir. The ice was still embedded in Galo’s stomach, frost spikes covered in blood.

“I hate you.”

Lio leaned in, and kissed.

♰

There was something insane about Galo.

The men figured that out a few minutes into the fight, when the blue haired man in front of them swung his Matoi and took a good chunk of them out without much effort. Them, with weaponry to freeze and kill, versus a man wielding a mere stick.

Behind Galo among the trees, Lio sat on a branch. He looked incredibly bored, like he was waiting to be entertained.

Galo twirled and parried, swung and struck. Lio blinked and didn't look too amused.

One man finally noticed the other person that wasn’t Galo in this field. He held out his gun, aimed wildly, and shot.

Instinctively Lio held out a hand, flames bursting into existence. Fire would deal with this, as it always did -

Galo jumped in front of him. The bullet got him on the side, ice slicing into flesh, blooming like a flower went feral. He went down with an ungraceful thump, at the base of the tree Lio was on.

An opening. One man swung an axe down.

Metal cleaved through flesh and bone. Blood spluttered upwards. The severed arm tumbled unceremoniously onto the floor, fingers twitching just once.

Relieved sighs all around before the guns were cocked upwards at Lio.

“Get down here!”

Lio blinked, inspecting the blood on the ends of his cloak. He scowled. He was going to have words with Galo over such mess.

“Didn’t you hear us!? Get dow-”

“Dude, he’s already annoyed enough as it is, do you want me to sleep on the couch tonight?”

Several guns pointed downwards immediately.

Galo stood up, wobbling just a bit. Blood dripped all over him from his lost limb, scarlet, scarlet, _teal-pink-blue_. He picked up his Matoi and inspected the wound, ice with blood with fire.

“Clean it up,” Lio huffed, crossing his arms. He looked like a miffed prince. “Then maybe you won’t sleep on the couch tonight.”

Galo smiled, pupils gleaming red.

“Of course, spark.”

♰

There was a rumour about a powerful Burnish, and a companion that he breathed back to life.

♰

Peridot glass trees and pink purple flowers, sapphire blue skies and prism white doves. Angels froze on the surface, lidded eyes and holy words.

A searing gold cross in the centre, surrounded by orange-red sun rays.

The stained glass window was definitely Galo’s favourite part of this church.

“Hold still!”

“This is boring,” Galo groaned. He had been sitting in the same spot for hours.

“Oh yeah?” Lio paused in his movements, looking up at Galo. “Well, maybe _don’t get your arm chopped off next time_.”

Galo pouted, but Lio was right. Severed limbs were the most difficult to put back together.

Lio huffed. His needle weaved in and out, leaving a neat suture on skin. The thread tinged _teal-pink-blue_ , Lio’s flames infusing every stitch.

It would probably only take a day or two before Galo could use this arm at full strength again.

Galo shifted a bit more. Lio kicked him.

“Ouch,” Galo pouted harder. His eyes were wide and round, the very epitome of a kicked puppy. “Why do I even bother protecting you if you’re just going to hurt me?”

Lio paused. “...Are you saying that if I hurt you more, you won’t protect me?”

Galo’s expression swapped from kicked puppy to suspicious puppy. “I feel like you’re trying to trick me into something.”

Lio kicked him, again.

“That’s not fair, that’s not fair!” Galo chuckled, catching Lio’s ankle. He pulled Lio closer with ease, resting his hand on Lio’s back. “...You know I would always jump in front of danger for you.”

Now it was Lio’s turn to look like a petulant child. “It’s reckless.”

“No,” Galo breathed out, “It’s love.”

♰

Galo was dead.

Galo was alive.

Lio stared at the man in front of him.

What had he done?

BRInGHiMBAcKBRiNghimBack **bRinGhiMBack**

♰

“Do you think you’ll remember everything, some day?”

Beneath him, Lio could feel Galo breathed in.

What an incredibly human gesture. Galo didn’t need to breathe.

“Maybe?” Galo whispered. His heart was beating slowly, taking its own sweet time to start up once more, now that Lio was done with putting him back together. “Why?”

“Nothing,” Lio closed his eyes. He buried his face into the crook of Galo’s neck. “I wonder what they arrested you for.”

They both knew his memories returned in bits and pieces. That was just how it was, ever since the day Galo opened his eyes and first met Lio again.

Galo hummed. He trailed circles on Lio’s back, each round making Lio’s heart flutter.

This stupid man.

“Whatever it is, we’ll tackle it together!” Galo wrapped his hands around Lio and squeezed. Those very same hands snapped the neck of intruders that tried to enter the Sanctuary this morning. “Right, spark?”

Lio couldn’t help the chuckle spilling out.

_I ~~hate~~ love him._

“Yeah,” Lio murmured, “We’re a team.”

♰

“We’re going back to where it began.”

Lio had moonlight in his eyes, cheeks flushed. Praying had always done wonders for him because Lio was an angel, Galo was sure about that.

There was a moment of pause before Lio stood up. His golden hair framed his face beautifully; he had no need for a halo. “Always and always?”

Galo kissed his knuckles. “Forever and ever.”

♰

Tomorrow, they leave for Promepolis.

**Author's Note:**

> \+ Yes, this is an UndeadGalo!/Maintainer!Lio AU start to canon movie
> 
> \+ Highly inspired by Crim’s papercrafts works, specifically, [this one.](https://twitter.com/crimsonmasq/status/1222963169586335744?s=19)
> 
> Stained glass is just my weakness + Promare is just too good to pass on. I warned you Crim, I told you I would be too inspired XD
> 
> \+ Thanks to stained glass window energy, my mind went to the other inspiration, which was ‘Embalming -The Another Tale of Frankenstein’. It’s basically about a traveling Frankenstein and his doctor (and I totally shipped them both can you tell)
> 
> \+ Yeah, Galo lost his memories when he came back to life. And yes, because Lio only knew him as Galo and didn’t know his surname, ended up calling him Galo Fotia. It just stuck. :)
> 
> \+ I had to verify blood facts with great people so thank you to Aslana and Big Boss for educating me XD
> 
> \+ It’s darker than my usual stuff, so I hope you guys still enjoyed it! Thank you for reading! :>
> 
> \+ Bonus:  
>  **Me showing like, three people so I can streamline this fic :** Guys there's a dead body  
>  **Them, over the nickname :** _sPark_  
> 


End file.
